A blog for Small Business Consultants and the vendors who serve them. It contains Opinions on business success, News in the SMB consulting space, and Information on what I'm up to.All material Copyright (c) 2006-2020 by Karl W. Palachuk unless otherwise noted.

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

A note for new entrepreneurs.

Starting a business, or a new adventure? Be honest as you assess yourself and your commitment.

Human beings have an optimism bias. If we didn’t, we’d never have children. But most of us are predisposed to believe that good things will happen to us and bad things won’t.

You can’t fool yourself in business. You have to be honest with yourself about your level of commitment, your self-discipline, your skills, your abilities, and your knowledge.

If you’re not committed, you need to accept that. If you are unsure about whether this is right for you, be honest. If you are paralyzed by fear, accept that.

All of those things can change. But if you are not committed, not sure, and feeling more fear than excitement, you need to go work on those things. All of them are reversible. You can address your fears and short-comings.

When you work on a project long enough, all that hesitation will disappear. At some point, you’ll be so excited about opening your business that nothing will stand in your way.

Starting your business is a lot like getting married. If there’s a doubt, it’s best to stop and go address that before you proceed.

When you believe that you have all the skills, ability, and ambition, then it’s time to start working fulltime on your new business.

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

A note for entrepreneurs.

Much of life, as well as your business, depends on your developing good habits. And really, not just good. Good habits will make you good at your business. Great habits will make you great.

One of my favorite lines is from Og Mandino’s book The Greatest Salesman in the World: “I will form good habits and become their slave.” The reason this is true is that we are all ruled by our habits. But we get to choose the habits we form.

As you begin operating your business, you should constantly evaluate the habits you have and the habits you need. For example, I hate calling people and making sales. Hate. Hate-hate-hate. I hate it so much that I refuse to do it.

So, I’ve built an entire business process that does not require me to ever call someone on the phone and ask them for money. I’m so dedicated to this process that I’ve built a half-million dollar business that requires zero outbound sales.

To achieve that, I’ve had to be rigorous about the habits of marketing, blogging, social media, and newsletter writing that create a massive in-bound marketing machine.

Business is like that a lot. If you don’t like a specific activity, or you refuse to do it, then you need to figure out alternatives that help you achieve the same result as those activities.

And when it comes to all the basic tasks of running a business, there’s a long list of things you need to be good at. Most of them are not difficult at all – like invoicing on time, writing press releases, and paying the rent. They just need to be done.

Those are perfect examples of habits you need to learn to execute consistently and flawlessly. This is not a matter of skill or ability – it is purely a matter of habit.

As a coach, I help many companies figure out why they’re stuck and how they can get to the next level. In every single case, over more than ten years, the client knows exactly what their problem is and what they need to do to fix it.

It always boils down to this: They have bad habits; They need good habits. And the reason everyone knows that we’re talking about habits is that it’s 100% about behavior. The problem is rarely about strategy. It’s always about execution.

Make the formation of habits your work and your success is guaranteed.

Monday, February 10, 2020

A note for absolutely new entrepreneurs:

Full Time, Part Time, or What? (Professional, Semi-Pro, or Amateur?)

Many people make the mistake of believing you can start a business part time in your basement. One in a hundred thousand business owners make that work. (I just made that up, but I’m pretty sure it’s true.)

If you keep your job and start your business on the side, you will literally break your own heart. You will work hard all day for “the man” you hate, then work six or eight additional hours trying to build your business.

But you’ll be giving your tired, worn-out self to your new company. And you’ll be trying to do it after hours when you can’t return phone calls, prospect for new business, and even begin to understand how good your new business could be.

Alternatively, you could work on your business during weekends. You’ll have more energy and do a better job, but you’re basically in the same situation.

Oh, and did you have a family somewhere along the way? Do they get any of your time?

Obviously, I am very biased. I believe that you should make a clean cut when the time comes. Do the Planning work! Go through the Launch work. Embrace it. Love it. Bring 100% of your energy to your new job – and be a professional!

If you haven’t read Steven Pressfield’s books Turning Pro or The War of Art, take time to read them. In the end, you are either a professional or an amateur. Decide.

Saturday, February 08, 2020

Build a Successful IT Service Business in 30 days

I am VERY pleased to be working with Zyxel for this educational webinar!

Discover how to become a successful managed service provider. Really.

Providing managed services can help you to scale your business, thanks to repeatable revenue, reduced maintenance costs, increased “stickiness” into your customers, and much more!

(This one's timed for our friends in the UK, but everyone is welcome to join us.)

Thursday February 13th

14:00 GMT

That's 6:00 AM Pacific / 9:00 AM Eastern

Join me for a presentation based on my book Managed Services in a Month.

We will explore how you can successfully implement managed services into your reseller portfolio quickly and effectively. We’ll also show you how you can use Zyxel Nebula to start offering managed networking services to your customers without high investment or major changes to your infrastructure.

For those new to me . . .
I am an Author, Blogger, Entrepreneur, and MSP Consultant

I have been an IT Consultant since 1995, and I'm one of the pioneers of the managed services business model. I've written twenty books, including several of the best-selling books on Amazon for the topic "managed services".

Thursday, February 06, 2020

A note for absolutely new entrepreneurs.

Congratulations
on taking the plunge! As scary as it seems right now, quitting your job to
start your own business will be one of the highlights of your life.

A few notes
of caution are in order. First,
please be very sure that you are willing to take the plunge. I know it’s
a good decision, and I’ve never met you. But you need to know it’s a
good decision. You need to be completely committed so you will move forward and
not look backward.

I’ve
always said that bad managers have created more entrepreneurs than any other
force in nature. Everyone wants to quit their job sometime. But when you want
to quit your job all the time, then you don’t have any choice.

Second,
is your family ready for you to take the plunge? You will probably have to work
longer hours in the beginning. And you may take a cut in take-home pay for
quite some time.

But
most importantly, you will fall in love with your new job. Your family will
enjoy many benefits from your new freedom, but they need to be prepared for you
to spend a certain amount of emotional energy in a relationship with your work.

Third,
you need to make sure you are the kind of person who will be successful as an
entrepreneur. That means you are self-motivating, you can work effectively
alone, and you are good at organizing your work.

If
you’re unsure, that’s okay. The Internet is full of resources to help you
learn about what it takes to start and run your new business. Just be care of the advice you stumble upon. One of the oldest jokes on the Internet is: On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog. In other words, be careful not to take advice just because you found advice that seems to make sense.

One of the advantages of belonging to a larger community is that you can meet people who have actually built businesses and found some success over the years. Their advice is probably worth taking.

Wednesday, February 05, 2020

I am proud to serve on the Executive Committee for CompTIA's NEW Advancing Tech Talent and Diversity Community.

In December 2019, the Advancing Diversity in IT committee completed the Diversity & Inclusion Plan for Technology SMBs document.

This initiative is now part of the mission of the Advancing Tech Talent and Diversity Community.

Please download this document and share with your networks, colleagues, local chambers, etc.

As a small business owner, could your diversity and inclusion efforts use some help? Download CompTIA’s Diversity & Inclusion Plan for Technology SMBs for tips, checklists, resources and more. Download Here.

Study after study shows that diverse workplaces are highly impactful, driving productivity and profitability—don’t let your small business miss out on those benefits. Download CompTIA’s Diversity & Inclusion Plan for Technology SMBs and get started on your D&I initiatives today. Download Here.

Diverse and inclusive companies are innovative and empower employees to bring their best and authentic selves to work. Learn how your small or medium business can implement best practices for diversity and inclusion. Download Here.

How To Build A Valuable Local LinkedIn Network - by Amy Babinchak, Microsoft MVP and owner of three technology-related businesses.

Long-time community member Amy Babinchak shows you her strategy for building a local LinkedIn network that you can use to build your client base - and fill your local events. Amy's strategy will help you make great contacts without making people feel like you're a spammer. And, as a side benefit, you'll improve you LinkedIn Sales sore.

Includes Amy hottest four tips for setting up a LinkedIn profile that works!

Amy is the owner of three IT related businesses: Harbor Computer Services, Third Tier and Sell My MSP. She has been working in the small and medium business IT field for more than 20 years. She is a technical person with advanced skills in networking design, management, and implementation. She values technology for what it does for people and the success it brings to business.

Amy is also a Microsoft MVP for 14 years. She has received numerous leadership awards and is a valued member of various boards. She is on the executive council of the Managed Services community at CompTia.

Cloud Services in a Month is a step-by-step, no-nonsense guide to building an extremely profitable cloud service business for the SMB (small and medium business) market. Filled with practical advice based on the author's experience over more than a decade, this audio book will show you how to achieve success in the cloud.

Karl W. Palachuk is one of the most well-known and respected authors and pioneers in the managed services industry and has sold and delivered millions of dollars of cloud services to his clients. In this audio book, he shares exactly how he did it.

Palachuk spells out all the details you need to build a Cloud Five-Pack™ - the custom bundled offering of services you will market, sell, and deliver to your prospects and customers. Chock-full of additional assets such as spreadsheets, checklists, processes, and more, Cloud Services in a Month includes everything you need to hit the ground running, even if you’re not a cloud expert.

Whether you have time, materials, professional services, or managed services practice, Cloud Services in a Month reveals how to incorporate cloud services into your existing solution stack and up-sell and cross-sell the cloud with your existing services in 30 days.

How to Hold a Hugely Successful Event that Results in New Clients for Your Business

In this white paper, Amy spells out the strategy she used to double the size of her (already successful) managed service business in eighteen months.

This white paper covers all the detail of creating an event, marketing, training employees to make presentations, and more. Amy gives you all the details for every aspect of creating and executing live events as a way to nurture new clients.

On webinars and in live presentations, Amy has described the process of using events to grow her business. So I asked her to take the trouble to write up her process - and she did a great job!

In this white paper, she spells out the details of her process. And those details include several smaller goals that Amy builds into the whole "event production" process. For example, she invites both clients and prospects, so the clients end up endorsing her company in front of prospects. And she engages her entire team, forcing them to learn some presentation skills while demonstrating to both clients and prospects that everyone on the team is knowledgeable.

About Amy Babinchak

Amy is the owner of three IT related businesses: Harbor Computer Services, Third Tier and Sell My MSP. She has been working in the small and medium business IT field for more than 20 years. She is a technical person with advanced skills in networking design, management, and implementation. She values technology for what it does for people and the success it brings to business.

Amy is also a Microsoft MVP for 14 years. She has received numerous leadership awards and is a valued member of various boards. She is on the executive council of the Managed Services community at CompTia.

Managed Services on Amazon

Hot Books for Managed Services

This four-volume set is the definitive guide to Managed Services. From the front office to the tech department, we cover it all. Every computer consultant, every managed service provider, every technical consulting company - every successful business - needs SOPs!

When you document your processes and procedures, you design a way for your company to have repeatable success. And as you fine-tune those processes and procedures, you become more successful, more efficient, and more profitable. The way you do everything is your brand.

How to Deliver Successful, Profitable Projects on Time with Your Small Business Clients

Small Business project management is simply not as complicated as project management in the enterprise. But small business projects have the same challenges as enterprise projects: They need to achieve their goals effectively, on time, and within budget.

They also face the same primary challenge – staying inside the scope of the project!

This great little book provides a simple process project planning and management process that is easy to learn and easy to teach to your employees, fellow technicians, and sub-contractors. You’ll learn to track any project, explain all the stages to clients and employees, and verify that everything is completed on time and under budget.

The authors show you a great technique for making sure that scope creep is a thing of the past! Make every project a successful and profitable project!

FTC Disclosure Statement

I make every attempt to honestly state what I believe and enjoy the freedom of posting whatever I feel like on this blog. This is a big complicated world and I have many interconnected personal and professional relationships.

I may in some way receive money or other benefits from any of the products, services, or companies mentioned in this blog as a direct or indirect result of my actions on and off this blog. Any experience mentioned here is just my experience and I have no knowledge about whether it represents a typical experience with any products, services, or companies mentioned.

Whenever it is possible to have both an honest and a misleading interpretation of my statements, please assume honesty. Thanks. - karlp